Learning. Happens. Here.

Kids

Short Story: A wonderful 6th grade student & I teamed up and made this bookmark sheet and I want to share it with you.

I made copies and gave several to the creative young kid. Then, a few days later, one of my marvelous teachers Mrs. Granger, had her kids, including the boy who helped create the Ninja Unicorn, color it and we’re going to laminate it. I took a picture and was just amazed. My not so adroit drawings and rather amateurish lettering were brought to life and made to look better by the amazing coloring of the kiddos.

Why not ask some of your kids to come up with their own coloring bookmarks? If you do, please share them with me and I will share them with my kids. Maybe we could trade them!?

JG – the creator of the NINJA Unicorn, is the cute kid in the middle! The other two gents are some of my 6h grade regular LEGO & UNO players during recess!

Longer Story: This coloring sheet came about by mistake. It came about because I’m kind of a doofus.

We were madly getting
ready for MAP testing deadlines (going through each and every laptop) and
also worrying over so many snow related school delays, that I forgot to sign up for a pot-luck breakfast for our district
Library Media Professional Development day.

The Winter Bazaar is a small holiday shop where students can use their Gotchas to “buy” gifts for their friends and family. The Winter Bazaar occurs during lunch shifts. We are in need of volunteers to help supervise and “sell” the items during lunch shifts. The items will be priced and displayed on tables for students to browse and “purchase”. Your primary responsibility will be to take Gotchas as students purchase items, encourage them to shop quickly so others can visit the Winter Bazaar, and monitor all of the items for sale. It really is a fun experience to watch students shop for their loved ones! (Students are also limited to five items each day.) Use the link below to sign up for a day and time to help supervise. Thank you! Please contact Ms. Behrens (laura_behrens@hcpss.org) with any questions.

Winter Bazaar Donations Needed: The Winter Bazaar is in need of your donated items! The Winter Bazaar is a small store filled with items that students can purchase using their Gotcha’s. Donated items include, but are not limited to, books, candles, jewelry, games, household items, decorative items, baby items, toys, movies, CDs, etc. Items can be new or gently used. The success of the event is dependent on donations; anything you can donate would be appreciated! Students really enjoy being able to “purchase” these items for their friends and family. All donations can be dropped off in the front office, or Ms. Hodder’s classroom (room 106). We will begin collecting items on November 1st. If you have any questions, please contact Ms. Behrens (laura_behrens@hcpss.org). Thanks for your support!

Thanks to our our A+ partner Librarians at the Howard County Library and two of our local HCPSS Middle School Teacher-Librarians we have created this Super Fun Reading List for all the kiddos in our district! (or the world!)

Murray Hill kids – If you read any of these books this summer, we would LOVE to hear what you thought in the comments! Follow us on Instagram to see pics of kids being AWESOME every day in our library and throughout the school!

Recommended Summer Reading Lists for the Whole Family!

Kindergarten – Grade 1

Grade 2 – 3

Grade 4 – 5

Middle School

High School

Black Eyed Susan Nominees

Libraries Rock!

Summer Reading Kickoff

Saturday, June 2

Participate in activities, crafts, and games. Enjoy the music of live bands: School of Rock House Band and Charm City Junction. Activities include Kindness Rocks, crafts for children; and Rock Band for teens.

HCLS MILLER BRANCH

Saturday, June 2

10 am – 2 pm

The fun continues all summer, when you enroll in Summer Reading: Libraries Rock! Sign up for a free account at hclibrary.beanstack.org, or pick up a booklet at any branch. Then log the books you read and mark off activities as you complete them for chances to win prizes.

Welcome Back Kiddos, Parents, & Families!

Happy 20th Anniversary Murray Hill! For real this time!

That means, the 8th grade kiddos I taught when we opened Murray Hill back in 1997 would now be in their 30’s! Whaaaat? That’s Crazy! But seriously, I am SO honored to have been a part of this community since the beginning. I never thought I was one of those teachers who would stay in the same school for like, forever!

But here I am, still happy, loving our quirky middle school kiddos and the vibrant and rich diversity of our amazing neighborhood! I also like that I live near our community and only have to drive 7 minutes to get here!

This year is going to be fantastic and challenging! Ms. Bell, our amazing Media Assistant is BACK full time! Thanks to our new interim Superintendent, Michael J. Martirano for bringing back our much needed (and loved!) library paraeducators. WE really appreciate having our Library & Literacy program fully staffed – because we serve about 800 people! 730+ kiddos & 80+ teachers and staff!

We also LOVE Instagram Shelfies!

A post shared by @GwynethJones (@thedaringlibrarian) on Oct 10, 2017 at 9:30am PDT

And #Makerspace Fun!

Speaking of making and working I’m excited to set up again our ever evolving Makerspace Station at MHMS in our Daring School Library Media Center for the fourth year! We’re going to be adding more stations, robotics, technology and opportunities to create, make, craft, design, code, and construct in our school!

I was touched by this timeless Huffington Post article from Mr. James Perry, once mayoral candidate and the the Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center:

“Among the most important lessons I’ve learned from Dr. King is the example of servant leadership. A servant leader is one who offers an inclusive vision; listens carefully to others; persuades through reason; and heals divisions while building community.

It is easy to spot servant leaders. In a room where others are jockeying for attention, they are the ones listening to someone others might consider unimportant. When faced with a problem, they look for solutions that benefit everyone. When something goes wrong, they take the blame. When things go well, they share the credit. They tell everyone the same story, even when it is inconvenient or difficult. They know that they don’t have all the answers, so they seek advice from others. They work hard and inspire others to do the same.

Martin Luther King, Jr. is an example of a servant leader. His life shows the extraordinary power of servant leadership to radically transform a nation.

Our communities and our country need servant leadership more than ever. Deepening economic woes threaten the American dream for far too many working people. Racial divisions are embarrassingly persistent in too many aspects of our economic and social lives. Political despair is battering the uniquely American optimism that has made us a great nation.

There are precious few servant leaders in our current political environment. Many elected officials are more interested in personal power, individual legacy, and financial gain than in the sacrifice and commitment that servant leadership requires.”

As educators, we have the honor to teach the next generation of servant leaders. It is our job, duty, and privilege to instill in them the passion to effect change and the empathy to think outside themselves. To inspire them to think not of the “me” but of the”we.”

I passionately believe that we also must be a model for these values and these practices for our students. So that the kids can see that we, as teachers, administrators, and all staff, follow these values and give of ourselves for the betterment of others and the world.

To take responsibility for our own actions and mistakes. We’re human. We stumble, we fail, we make mistakes and we fall on our face. Show the kids that we pick ourselves up, acknowledge our fails, apologize, and move on. How can we ask them to be accountable and take responsibility if we don’t do that, too? I knew a teacher once (now, thankfully retired) who said he would NEVER apologize to a kid or a class even if he was wrong because he would lose “power.” I heartily disagree! I think we are seen as more powerful when we say, “Wow, I was wrong about that, I’m so sorry!” Or try the classic “You were right and was wrong” [you can also add a pretend heart attack] to a kid or a class. But do we always remember or take that high road. Nope.

It’s OK To Make Mistakes! I do it all the time!

Case in point. This morning, I was a blockhead and messed up part of our daily #MHTVNews program by forgetting to queue up and show an inspiring video (embedded above) that our Principal Mr. Wilson shared with us last Sunday for today’s Friday show. After the show, when he asked me about why it wasn’t shown, I drew a blank for a few seconds then I totally threw Mr. Dunbar under the bus (’cause it was his show today &amp; he forgot, too!) I was mortified! Is it just old age? GAH! How did I, or we, forget that!? (See? how humans try to make excuses and push the blame around?)

But Mr. Wilson, was SO kind and understanding, and said we could show it on Tuesday. Whew! Sorry Mr. Wilson! Sorry Mr. Dunbar! It’s on me! It was my fault! See? Even when we know it’s the right thing to do, or forget, taking responsibility for a gaffe is difficult. Especially with a boss (or a parent!) It’s a lifelong struggle to be a good person and do the right thing! But it’s SO worth it! Let’s share that with our kiddos and admit our occasional (or, in my case, daily) foibles and move on, lesson learned. Again.

Model Charity and Good Works

Our students should also see us as being charitable with our community, helping others, giving of time, effort, or funds to support those that need it. Not in a flashy or “look at me” kind of way, but just to help get things done because it’s the right and good thing to do.

Over the years I’ve seen our students rally to raise funds for the Hurricane Katrina victims, Haiti relief, and yearly for crisis intervention in our community by supporting Grassroots of Howard County. I am SO proud of our kiddos, we’ve done well…but we can always do better!

This is why I posted the words from page 333 of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret on our library wall:

“It is our choices…that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”

~ Albus Dumbledore

Let’s be inspired by the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr not just on his birthday – but every day – throughout the year!

More inspiring words on responsibility:

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will – his personal responsibility.” ~ Albert Einstein

“It is a painful thing to look at your own trouble and know that you yourself and no one else has made it.” ~ Sophocles

“A sign of wisdom and maturity is when you come to terms with the realization that your decisions cause your rewards and consequences. You are responsible for your life, and your ultimate success depends on the choices you make.” ~ Denis Waitley

But it’s super cool – like a hotel room safe you enter a 4 digit code of your choice, lock, and then put in that same code to unlock!

But don’t forget your 4 numbers – I do have a bypass key but this charging community is going to count on your remembering your numbers. ALL lockers will be opened at the end of the day – any leftover cell phones or tablets will be sold on eBay! This is my retirement plan…Muuwaaaa!

Just kidding. Please remember to take your device home with you.

Enjoy!

For more information about these charging lockers check out the Touchboards website or the main LockNCharge website!

I wanted to highlight another aspect of our new Makerspace area – an area for creation and creativity. For making, coloring, and relaxing with investigative play. The LEGO station has been very popular!

When I started up the area, I didn’t have any rules, I just said to the kids “here’s all this cool stuff, some books for inspiration, play with it, figure it out, and have fun!” …..but after a couple months of a wasted materials (ex: uncompleted duct tape raincoats that ended up in a huge sticky ball) and some messy LEGO behavior, I realized we did indeed need a few guidelines.

As part of our Lego Creation Station Community, we have a few guidelines that you must agree to:

Share

Be willing to create and build with another student.

Be neat

Put ALL STRAY LEGO Pieces away

before you leave- That’s nice!

Celebrity Status

You must agree that your creations belong to the Library Media Center and with the understood permission that we may Instagram, Vine, Photograph, Blog, Tweet, & share your creations to the world. They may also be taken apart by another student to make another creation. That’s the way of the LEGO.

Have Fun!

If you’re not having fun, being nice, neat, generous, sharing, and cool – we may ask you to leave our Makerspace community. That’s on you.

So be cool – don’t be all uncool! Thank you!

Simple stuff, really! So the kids would feel ownership & a buy into these guidelines, I crowdsourced with the kiddos during recess to make the list, & then added my own twist to it – with a little help from the Countess LuAnn De LesSeps for the all uncool part!

When Can Kiddos Visit the Makerspace?
Kids can come to the Library before home room, during any class with a pass when they finish their work (standardized testing permitting), and during most all recess times – coverage permitting. (I have 7th grade lunch duty so I rely on volunteers during my shift) This is a time for them to check out books, read, recharge their devices, play games, and work with the Makerspace stations! It’s not quiet. And thats….OK!

There is no “makerspace class” per se, it’s a resource kids can come to when they have time. It’s been used as a reward for some of our kids who need a little educational bribery err….incentives! (and LEGOS’s & coloring cause cavities!). Most of our kiddos really respond to it very positively. I even got a kiddo to to finish his MAP test who was ready to give up by saying he could work with the LEGOS afterwards if he did his very best.

Come visit our LEGO Creation Station and Makerspace area the next time you’re in Murray Hill and if you have any old unwanted LEGO pieces laying around, and you feel compelled to donate them, we’d be super grateful!

Panel discussions feature representatives from Mindgrub Technologies, Hopkins’ Applied Physics Lab, University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Howard County Public School System, and LifeJourney. Topics include:

STEM: Past, Present, and Future

Gamification

STEM Resume Building and LifeJourney

Learn how your middle and high school students can participate in this STEM education initiative that teaches cutting-edge science, technology, engineering, and math via project-based classes that include computer programming, 3D animation, nanotechnology, music/video production, e-books, game apps, cybersecurity, green energy, and robotics.

We love connecting with other kiddos in schools in other cities and states. Our sister library is Central Middle School of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and we had a great time the other day chatting with them about books!
Our friend & my librarian mentee Mrs. Tiffany Whitehead was being filmed for a local news segment about Making a Difference and she wanted to show off our long distance cooperative relationship and cool tech with a Google Plus Hangout! And though the segment says Washington, DC we know we’re Laurel and just part of the DC Metro area! Thanks to Mrs. Krieger for jumping on board with this cutting edge conversation! It was lots of fun!
View the actual segment on the WBRZ Baton Rouge, Louisiana site – you can catch a quick glimpse of our class!
Mr. Wasilewski even Tweeted about our class!

What’s Up with Wattpad?

We also learned from Stephanie about Wattpad – a fan fiction open forum for writers and readers!

Or as Wikipedia says it’s “a writing community in which users are able to post articles, stories, and poems about anything either online or through the Wattpad app. The content includes work by undiscovered and published writers. Users are able to comment and like stories or join groups associated with the website. Around half of the users are U.S. based; most users also come from the U.K., Canada, the Philippines, Australia, and more.[3]”